Summit County Colorado includes Breckenridge, Keystone, Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, Wildernest, and Heeney. If you live in any of these areas, or if you are visiting Summit County Colorado from elsewhere, and would like some kefir grains, let me know. Also, please let me know if you have kefir grains that you would be willing to share with others, regardless of where you live and I will post your contact info on this page.
I live in Breckenridge and have an office at 100 South Main Street where I can leave kefir grains for people to pick up. I have also left kefir grains hidden at the Meadow Creek trailhead in Frisco for people in the past. See below for directions to both locations.
Kefir made with the living grains is totally different from the kefir you get from stores or kefir that is made using a powdered product. Properly cared for, these grains will grow and multiply, supplying you with a true probiotic kefir for your lifetime.
I can meet people to pick-up kefir grains at the Lincoln West Mall. The address is 100 South Main Street, Breckenridge, Colorado, 80424 and the following is a map of this location:
A few times, I have also left kefir grains hidden at the Meadow Creek trailhead in Frisco and here is a map to this location:
These links might also be helpful:
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=HGR284-062
http://www.mountaintravelguide.com/Colorado/Summit/Hiking/MeadowCreekTrail.htm
And here are a couple of photos to help you find the hiding spot:
In either case, please plan to leave a clean glass jar for me to use when giving the next person some kefir grains.
There are tons of kefir grain related videos on YouTube. Below are links to some which were all made by the same family and which are fairly informative. The one criticism I have has to do with their kefir grain straining technique. They seem to make much more of a mess than necessary.
At some point I may post photos of my technique. But basically, I used a razor blade to make a strainer out of a plastic 6 oz yogurt cup which fits perfectly over the top of a wide mouth mason jar. I brew my kefir in regular mason jars and strain directly into the wide mouth jars. Then I rinse out the regular jar (with non-chlorinated water), fill about half way with milk, and dump the kefir grains back into them. All of this, I do in the sink and there is very little clean-up to deal with.
Using a kitchen scale, I have found that about 10 grams of kefir grains per about 1 fluid ounce of milk makes a good batch of kefir in about 24 hours at normal room temperature. I gently shake and mix the jars periodically when I am home to do so. This seems particularly useful after the first 8 to 12 hours of brewing. Keeping the jars tightly sealed gives the kefir a carbonated quality which does not result when the jars are loosely sealed. I have also found that the grains grow in weight by about 5% per brewing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCvDKrHUutE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSmDvi55Ii0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=250BGtihy0I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rihOeipJM2Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIz52LwhovU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeKvVWW1YzE&feature=related
Below are some links that will get you started in learning about kefir grains and how to use them.
I first became interested in making my own kefir when I started using a home grain mill. Whole grains should be soaked in some acidic medium in order to get the most nutritional benefit from them and kefir is one great such medium. I use kefir to make whole grain bread, pizza dough, waffles, and oatmeal. Kefir also works well in any recipe that calls for buttermilk such as fried chicken.
These are just a few of the sites I found when I first started looking for kefir grains.
When I tried contacting some of the people on the sites above, these are the ones who responded that they had kefir grains to share by mail. This was during November of 2008.
| State | City | Name | Fee | |
| Arizona | Kachina | Bret | spirit_phx (at) yahoo.com | Send a pre-paid lable |
| Idaho | ? | Rae | rae_beck (at) @hotmail.com | $10 |
| Massachusetts | Montague | Rick | rick (at) PioneerValleyYoga.com | Free |
| Montana | Dillon | Petra | friedensborn (at) yahoo.de | $10 |
| New Mexico | Santa Fe | Juliet | juliet_led (at) yahoo.com | $15 |
| New York | East Elmhurst | Mario | maguerre22 (at) yahoo.com | $15 |
| Oregon | Cave Junction | Betty | longmanb (at) cavenet.com | $25 |
| Tennessee | Thorn Hill | Will and Connie | thehulls2000 (at) yahoo.com | $5 after grains arrive |
| ? | ? | Gwen | garndt-pastryk (at) comcast.net | $10 + shipping |
| ? | ? | Michele | batyhwh (at) yahoo.com | $14.95 |
While I do not brew Kombucha myself, many who make Kefir make Kombucha also. When I first started looking for Kefir, the following also contacted me about Kombucha.
From aipine1 (at) hotmail.com
Kombucha mushroom is not an actual mushroom that we use in cooking. It is called Kombucha Tea. It has a mushroom shape, and it should be cultured in "sweetened Tea". The Tea then turns into a healthy tonic drink. I believe it is better than Kefir Grain in many ways. However, Kefir is also great. I don't charge you, but you must pay for the shipping fee. Anyway learn more about it and decide if it's an additional right choice for you after the Kefir. By the way, I am in Tampa, Florida.
============================================
Green Mountain Reservoir Cabin